


Birthday Candles

by stuffandsundry



Category: Persona 5
Genre: F/F, happy birthday ann!!!!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-12
Updated: 2017-11-12
Packaged: 2019-02-01 10:46:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,248
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12703428
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stuffandsundry/pseuds/stuffandsundry
Summary: If you close your eyes and make a wish before blowing out your birthday candles, surely... that wish will come true.





	Birthday Candles

**Author's Note:**

> possiblu sliight sixth palace spoilers! also, this assumes that Ann's confidant is rank 8 or lower, for reasons,
> 
> it's anns birthday!!! baby girl!!! i had to write something plz just imagine me screaming hoarsely at my computer the entire time i was writing this _aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaugh_

Ann closes the door behind her and locks it. “I’m home!” She calls out.

It falls flat into dead silence. Ann sighs. Oh, yeah. Her parents were in New York right now. It wasn’t the twelfth there yet.  They’ll probably call her sometime tomorrow, and in a few weeks, Ann will find some heavy package on her doorstep filled with American snacks and sweets that she can’t easily get in Japan.

But for now…  

Ann turns on the lights and heads to the kitchen. She sets her cake on the counter, and goes to find a pair of scissors to cut the string. Where _are_ all the utensils, actually? Was it the second drawer from the left, or the third? Ann doesn’t cook enough to know off the top of her head. Takeout is always more convenient.

At least nothing’s dusty? The housekeeper— Ito-san— comes around every first Wednesday of the month, because otherwise the place would just be an absolute mess. Ito-san is super nice, and she’s been working for Ann’s family since middle school.

Ann kind of wishes that Ito-san was here right now. It’s so quiet in here.

Ann can’t _stand_ it.

She grabs the scissors and slams the drawer shut with way more force than necessary.

“... Well, here we are!” Ann says, just to fill the air. “One pair of scissors, found! Aaaaand… one strawberry chocolate cake, just for me!”

Her smile slips a little bit. That sounds so depressing when she says it out loud. Last birthday had been the basically the same as this year’s. A quiet celebration, in Ann’s apartment.

But it hadn’t felt empty, it hadn’t felt sad, and Ann knows _exactly_ why.

“...Hey, Shiho.” Ann says out loud. “I wish you were here.”

She leans her arms on the countertop and looks down at her hands.

“Hiruta-sensei said something interesting in class today. ‘Most of our communication is based on assumptions’ or something like that and, I dunno why that stuck with me, but… I’ve been thinking.” Ann traces shapes on the cardboard box of the cake as she talks. “I was thinking… that I’d always assumed that you would be with me. And I don’t— I don’t think I ever told you just how much you meant to me, I just assumed that you knew. And I really— I—”

Ann sniffs, and blinks rapidly. Oh no, she shouldn’t be crying, it’s her birthday.

“I’m so stupid! I should have said it, before everything happened! And _this_ is stupid too,” Ann hiccups, “but I think I’m allowed to be stupid once in a while! Because it’s my birthday and you’re not _here._ And _nobody’s_ here, and I don’t know why I’m feeling so sad because I can’t expect anything w-when I never told any of them that it’s my birthday today, you know? But I was… I just…”

_I wish you were here._

There’s nobody around to see her ugly cry, so fuck it! Ann _bawls._ And it hurts, but in a kinda okay way, like she’s coming to term with a truth that she had been trying to verbalize for months ever since that awful day in April. She misses Shiho, she misses how they used to be and that’s not something that Ann can get back! Shiho’s alive, and that’s good, but things are super different now and that hurts. And— and that’s okay. She can be happy for Shiho in the future and miss what they had in the past, too.

Ann imagines what Shiho might say if she could see Ann like this, crying her eyes out alone over a birthday cake she bought for herself. Probably something like “Aw, come on Ann. I’m still here, you know. Don’t cry over me like I’m dead or something.” or maybe just “You dummy, that cake’s way too big for one person, scooch over and gimme a slice.”

God, Ann can practically hear her say it, and the mental image makes her giggle a little bit through her tears.

The doorbell rings, and Ann starts.

She hadn’t been expecting anyone. Oh shit, she must be an absolute mess right now. Ann fumbles for a tissue with one and blows her nose, noisily. With the other, she checks her reflection in the surface of her phone, oh no she looks awful, her makeup is all smeared, she can’t answer the door like this!

“Gimme a few minutes!” She calls out, running down the hall to the bathroom. Ann scatters her beauty kit over the countertop and proceeds to set what must be _a world record_ for makeup reapplication time. (Damn, she’s good.)

She puts on the security chain and opens the door just a crack.

“Hello, Ann.” Makoto brushes her hair behind her ear as she smiles.

Ann blinks. “Hey, Makoto. What’s up?”

“There’s something important that I think we need to talk about.”

Ann puts on a smile. “Ah… yeah, okay. Now’s not a great time, though, can we do this tomorrow? I’ve got… uh, things to do today.”

Makoto shakes her head. “No, this matter is extremely time sensitive. And believe me, you’re going to want to hear it.”

Oh man. Ann’s stomach drops. If it was a Phantom Thief thing— well, there was only one week before the plan was going to take place and Akira’s life would be on the line. That had to be more important than Ann’s feelings.

“Sure, then. Uh, one sec.” Ann closes the door and takes off the chain.

She opens it again and—

“Happy birthday, Lady Ann!” “Hey, Ann, were you just going to not tell us about this? So not cool!” “Indeed, this is a cause for celebration.” “I baked a cake, Ann-chan! Ah, it’s not terribly pretty, since it’s my first time working with frosting, but it tastes pretty good!”

Ann’s mouth opens and closes like she’s some kind of goldfish. Morgana, Futaba, Yusuke, Haru, and Makoto all stand in front of her door with big smiles on their faces. There are so many things Ann wants to say, anything to express the warm affection rising up in her chest.

What comes out is: “How did you know even know it was my birthday?”

“Well—”

“I mean, we didn’t actually know until yesterday—”

“Which, come on! Why didn’t you tell us!”

“We didn’t even have time to get better gifts, this is all so rushed, I’m sorry—”

“Akira got a text and we had to scramble to prepare everything—”

 

“ _I_ told them, you big silly.”

 

Ann’s heart beats faster, and the crowd of her friends in front of the door parts, and Ann sees—

She’s still leaning heavily on her crutches, and Ann can see Akira and Ryuji hovering behind her just in case she falls, but none of that matters, because. Because…!

“Shiho!” Ann almost runs forward, barely remembering to stop before giving her a bear hug because Shiho’s injured, don’t do that— and Ann just kind of hovers her hands over Shiho’s shoulders like she can’t believe that she’s actually here, like Shiho might disappear if Ann touched her.

Shiho laughs, and wraps her arms around her. “Happy birthday, Ann.”

Ann hugs her back, and the rest of her friends crowd around too. Ann’s crying, and laughing, and she’s almost positive that one of her neighbors is going to start yelling at her to keep it down any minute be she doesn’t give a single damn.

This is the best birthday she’s ever had.


End file.
